Biottied. 

1  III  1    II    1      III 

G     000  005  903 

9 

H24Ja 

1885 

THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


ADDRESS 


DELIVERED   BEFORE  THE 


Aiiierican  Academy  of  Dental  Science, 


SEVENTEENTH  ANNUAL  MEETING, 
Held  in   Boston,   November  5,  1884, 


EDWARD  N.  HARRIS,  D.D.S., 


OF   BOSTON. 


Boston  : 
Thomas  Todd,  Printer,  i  Somerset  Street. 

1 88  5. 


ADDRESS 


DELIVERED   BEFORE  THE 


American  Academy  of  Dental  Science, 


AT    THEIR 


SEVENTEENTH  ANNUAL  MEETING, 
Held  in  Boston,  November  5,  1884, 


EDWARD  N.  HARRIS,  D.D.S., 


OF   BOSTON. 


Boston  : 

Thomas  Todd,  Printer,  i  Somerset  Street. 

1885. 


85  Newbury  Street, 

Boston,  December  i,  1S84. 
Dr.  Edward  N.  Harris. 
Dear  Doctor : 

At  the  Seventeenth  Annual  Meeting  of  the  American  Academy 
of  Dental  Science,  held  in  Boston,  November  sth,  1884,  it  was  unanimously 
resolved ;  "  That  the  thanks  of  the  Academy  be  presented  to  Dr.  E.  N. 
Harris  for  his  very  able  address,  and  that  a  copy  be  requested  for  publi- 
cation."    Hoping  that  you  will    comply  with  this  request,  I  am  with  kind 

regards, 

Yours  very  truly, 

C.  P.  Wilson, 

Chairtnan  Executive  Committee. 


Evans  House,  175  Tremont  Street, 

Boston,  December  10,  1884. 
Dear  Doctor : 

I  have  received  your  polite  note  and  will  cheerfully  comply 
with  the  request  of  the  Academy  for  a  copy  of  my  address  delivered  on 
the  occasion  of  their  late  Anniversary. 

The  members  will  please  accept  my  warmest  thanks  for  this  mark  of 
their  esteem. 

I  remain  with  high  regard, 

Very  truly  yours, 

E.  N.  Harris. 
Dr.  C.  p.  Wilson, 

Chairman  Executive  Committee. 


ADDRESS. 


Mr.  President,  and  Gentlemen  of  the  American   Academy 
of  Dental  Science : 

With  thankful  hearts  to  Almighty  God,  the  giver  of 
all  good,  we  meet  today  to  celebrate  this  Seventeenth 
Anniversary  of  our  Academy. 

I  am  not  insensible  to  the  high  honor  that  you  have 
conferred  upon  me  in  selecting  me  to  deliver  the  Annual 
Address  before  you  upon  this  occasion,  and  follovs^  in  the  long 
line  of  eminent  practitioners  who  have  preceded  me  during 
the  years  that  are  past.  I  appreciate  this  compliment, 
coming  as  it  does  from  a  society  which  bears  so  high  and 
honorable  a  record,  and  in  which  I  have  felt  a  lively  inter- 
est from  its  earliest  organization  in  1867,  down  to  the 
present  time ;  and  from  an  association  of  professional 
gentlemen  whose  acquaintance  and  friendship  I  have 
enjoyed  through  many  years,  and  for  whom  I  entertain  the 
highest  feelings  of  fraternal  respect. 

Associations  like  this  unite  men  of  different  opinions, 
and  conciliate  friendship  among  those  who  might  otherwise 
have  remained  at  a  perpetual  distance. 

In  my  remarks  to  you  today,  I  will  first  speak  briefly 
of  the  early  history  and  the  progress  of  this  Society,  and 
of  some  of  the  advantages  that  dental  societies  are  to  the 
profession  and  to  the  community.  I  will  then  say  some- 
thing about  the  advancement  the  art  and  science  of  den- 


tistry  has  made  since  I  first  started  out  as  a  dental  prac- 
titioner, thirty-one  years  ago ;  and,  lastly,  I  will  call  your 
attention  to  a  subject  which  is  agitating  the  public  mind  at 
the  present  time,  viz. :  Christian  Science,  or  Metaphysical 
Healing,  or  what  is  frequently  termed  the  Mind  Cure,  and 
which  may  have  an  important  bearing  upon  our  profession 
in  the  future. 

This  Anniversary  measures  another  year  in  the 
onward  march  of  our  own  developments  and  achieve- 
ments for  the  profession  of  our  choice.  This  day  is  to 
us  a  resting-place  in  the  history  -of  our  labor  and  our 
progress.  It  is  that  future  of  our  early  hopes  to  which 
our  eyes  have  looked,  our  hopes  have  longed,  and  the  feel- 
ing is  strong  upon  us  now  to  sit  down  together  around  the 
old  camp  fire  and  rehearse  the  struggles  and  the  triumphs 
of  the  past,  and  liv^e  over  again  the  many  pleasant  occa- 
sions we  have  enjoyed,  and  speak  of  the  many  grand 
events  that  have  taken  place,  and  the  noble  work  that  has 
been  accomplished  during  the  past  seventeen  years  in  and 
through  this  American  Academy  of  Dental  Science. 

It  was  my  good  fortune  to  be  present  at  the  opening 
day,  October  19,  1867  —  a  day  I  shall  always  cherish  in 
memory  —  when  a  few  of  us  gathered  together  and  started 
this  Academy  into  life. 

This  was  the  second  dental  society  instituted  in  Bos- 
ton, the  first  and  only  one  preceding  it  was  the  Massa- 
chusetts Dental  Society,  organized  in  1864,  of  which  I  was 
one  of  the  original  founders. 

The  small  band  of  professional  dentists  who  assembled 
to  take  into  consideration  the  expediency  of  forming  this 
Academy,  met  with  considerable  opposition,  but  they  were 
men  of  resolute  purpose,  and  with  strong  love  for  their 
profession,  possessing  an  earnest  desire  for  the  advance- 
ment of  dental  science,  and  they  felt  that  if  such  an  Acad- 
emy could  be  formed  it  would  receive  the  encouragement 


5 


and  cooperation  of  a  large  portion  of  the  better  class  of 
practitioners,  and  the  best  interests  of  the  profession  would 
be  promoted,  and  great  good  would  result  to  the  public. 

As  we  take  a  retrospective  view  of  the  past,  and  note 
the  progress  made  from  year  to  year,  we  shall  see  that  the 
anticipations  of  those' original  members  who  projected  this 
enterprise  have  been  more  than  fully  realized.  For  a  while 
at  first  it  was  misunderstood  by  some,  and  misrepresented 
by  others,  as  an  exclusive  and  aristocratic  movement ;  but 
unmindful  of  this,  the  Society  moved  steadily  forward, 
doing  its  appointed  work,  and  within  a  few  years  gained  a 
firm  hold  on  the  confidence  of  the  community,  and  com- 
manded the  respect  of  the  profession  throughout  our  entire 
country  and  in  Europe. 

From  the  catalogue  issued  the  past  year,  I  find  that 
since  the  formation  of  the  Academy,  one  hundred  and 
twenty-four  members  have  been  admitted,  including  among 
them  many  dentists  of  eminence  in  America  and  Europe, 
and  making  a  roll  of  membership  of  which  this  Society 
can  feel  justly  proud.  The  names  of  our  honored  presi- 
dents and  orators  are  familiar  to  you  all  —  they  need  no 
encomium  from  me. 

Elisha  T.  Wilson  . 
Daniel  Harwood  . 
Joshua  Tucker 
David  M.  Parker  . 
Elisha  G.  Tucker  . 
Jacob  L.  Williams 
Thomas  H.  Chandler 
George  T.  Moffatt 

OUR    ANNIVERSARY    ORATORS. 

Elisha  T.  Wilson,  of  Boston 
Daniel  Harwood,  of  Boston 
Joseph  H.  Foster,  of  New  York 
John  H.  McQuillen,  of  Philadelphia 


Elected  1867 

"   1868 

"   1873 

"   1875 

"   1877 

"   1879 

"   1881 

"   1882 

.  1868 

.  1869 

.  1870 

.  1871 

Philip  H.  Austen,  of  Baltimore 
W.  W.  Allport,  of  Chicago 
Robert  Arthur,  of  Baltimore 
William  H.  Dwindle,  of  New  York   . 
Charles  W.  Eliot,  President  of  Harvard 

versity        ..... 
C.  A.  Marvin,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Joshua  Tucker,  of  Boston 
Frederic  N.  Seabury,  of  Providence 
Frank  Abbott,  of  New  York 
Norman  W.  Kingsley,  of  New  York 


Uni- 


i«73 
1874 
1876 
1877 


1879 
1880 
1881 

1882 
188^ 


Nearly  all  of  the  addresses  delivered  by  these  gentle- 
men have  been  published  by  the  Academy,  and  copies  are 
on  file  with  our  librarian  for  permanent  preservation. 

During  these  seventeen  years,  twenty-six  of  our  num- 
ber have  been  called  away  from  earth,  and  have  entered 
the  land  of  rest  and  immortality.  They  have  passed 
through  the  change  which  the  world  calls  death,  but  which 
is  only  a  transition  to  a  higher  degree  of  life  and  an  ascent 
in  the  scale  of  existence.  And  it  is  fitting  that  we  here 
pause  for  a  moment  and  drop  a  silent  tear,  and  speak  a 
word  of  tribute  and  affection  to  the  memory  of  those  de- 
parted brothers,  whose  able  counsel,  genial  companion- 
ship, and  cheering  words,  we  enjoyed  at  our  monthly  and 
annual  meetings  through  many  years. 

Their  seats  are  vacant  here  today  —  we  miss  them  — 
and  though  their  beloved  faces  we  can  no  longer  see,  and 
their  familiar  voices  we  can  no  longer  hear,  yet  in  fond 
recollection  we  can  see  and  hear  them  ;  and  now,  as  this 
Anniversary  hour  comes  on,  we  can  still  feel  their  living 
presence  inspiring  us  witb  renewed  hope  and  zeal  in  our 
profession,  and  with  love  for  one  another  and  charity 
towards  all  mankind.  The  memory  of  the  just  is  sweet,  and 
theirs  will  live  in  hallowed  fragrance  through  generations 
yet    to   come ;    and    the    noble   work   they   accomplished 


through  a  long  series  of  years  to  elevate  and  adorn  their 
profession  and  to  advance  the  interests  of  this  Academy, 
and  the  great  benefit  they  conferred  upon  humanity  in 
preventing  and  alleviating  human  suffering,  v^^ill  ever  be 
acknowledged  and  remembered,  and  their  names  will  con- 
tinue to  be  cherished,  not  only  by  us,  their  surviving  friends 
and  associates,  but  by  their  grateful  patients  both  here  and 
in  distant  States  and  lands,  and  by  the  dental  profession 
everywhere. 

Some  of  them  had  their  peculiarities,  so  have  we  all ; 
but  I  will  venture  the  assertion  that  no  future  generation 
of  dentists  will  ever  find  \yithin  their  ranks  twenty-six 
more  able  and  faithful  laborers,  or  twenty-six  more  true 
and  honorable  gentlemen.  Quite  a  number  of  them  lived 
to  a  very  advanced  age,  and  they  left  behind  them  a  record 
and  an  example  well  worthy  of  imitation  by  the  young  men 
now  coming  into  the  profession.  In  their  declining  years 
they  had  the  pleasant  satisfaction  of  seeing  the  science  and 
art  of  dentistry  and  the  status  of  the  profession  advancing 
towards  the  ideal  that  they  had  formed  for  it  in  the 
thoughts  and  aspirations  of  their  earlier  years. 

Having  briefly  alluded  to  the  past  history  of  this 
Academy,  and  spoken  of  the  progress  that  has  been  made 
and  the  high  ground  that  has  been  reached,  let  us  leave  the 
scenes  of  recollection  for  the  survey  of  the  field  we  occupy, 
and  the  prospect  that  opens  beyond.  At  our  monthly  and 
annual  meetings  we  meet  to  investigate  every  truth  upon 
which  our  art  is  founded,  that  we  may  aid  in  its  advance- 
ment, and  be  better  qualified  to  fulfil  our  duties  to  our 
patients.  We  meet  to  compare  notes,  to  exchange  ideas, 
to  learn  from  each  other's  experience,  and  to  refute  or  con- 
firm opinions  previously  entertained,  and  thus  impart  to 
one  another  and  to  the  community  in  which  we  live,  useful 
and  practical  knowledge. 

We  meet  also  to  renew  old  acquaintances,  and  to  draw 


8 


more  closely  those  fraternal  bonds  which  should  bind  us  to 
each  other  and  to  the  profession  we  esteem.  I  say  to  the 
profession,  because  being  conscious  of  our  indebtedness  to 
it  in  the  past,  and  the  great  progress  it  has  made  in  our 
country,  we  should  feel  a  pride  in  doing  all  we  can  to 
maintain  its  present  prestige,  and  press  forward  to  a  still 
higher  position. 

One  of  my  dear  old  teachers,  the  late  Prof.  P.  H. 
Austen,  in  a  valedictory  address  to  the  graduates  of  the 
Baltimore  College  of  Dental  Surgery,  in  1853,  used  the 
following  beautiful  and  impressive  language  : 

"  A  man  may  redeem  the  follies  of  his  youth  ;  a  science 
correct  the  mistakes  of  its  infancy.  The  arts  of  medicine 
and  surgery  have  thrown  over  the  ignorance  and  miscon- 
duct of  their  youthful  days  a  thick  veil  of  noble  deeds,  lofty 
aims,  profound  learning,  and  heroic  self-devotion.  If  to 
the  art  of  dentistry,  youngest  in  this  noble  band  of  three, 
that  stand  to  minister  at  the  altar  of  suffering  humanity, 
there  still  clings  some  of  the  reproach  of  her  early  associa- 
tions, it  is  not  because  she  is  more  lowly  born  than  they. 
The  deeds  of  her  childhood  might  well  be  the  boast  of  riper 
years  ;  they  give  sure  promise  of  a  maturity  of  which  her 
elder  sisters  shall  have  full  reason  to  be  proud.  Now,  in 
the  broad  twilight  of  the  present,  to  make  the  darkness  of 
the  past  forgotten  in  the  brightness  of  the  future,  and 
increase  onward  and  upward  till  it  shall  reach  the  fullness 
of  noonday  splendor  —  this,  gentlemen,  is  your  mission." 

The  propTietic  utterances  of  Dr.  Austen,  made  thirty- 
two  years  ago  in  Baltimore,  are  being  fulfilled.  Since  that 
time,  dental  colleges  and  dental  schools  in  universities  have 
been  established  in  different  parts  of  our  country,  and 
dental  societies  have  been  instituted  in  every  State  of  our 
Union,  and  also  in  Europe  —  and  all  these  in  the  aggregate 
have  done  a  mighty  work  in  the  education  and  elevation  of 
the  profession.     The  standard  of  general  dental  practice 


has  improved  at  least  fifty  per  cent  since  the  organization 
of  dental  societies. 

Associated  effort  for  the  accomplishment  of  any  pur- 
pose is  one  of  the  greatest  promoters  of  progress. 

Dr.  C.  E.  Francis,  of  New  York,  at  one  of  our  anni- 
versary meetings  some  years  ago,  very  truly  said,  "  That 
dental  societies  are  the  very  backbone  of  the  profession. 
It  is  at  such  gatherings  that  the  members  bring  their  best 
thoughts,  and  keep  up  the  spirit  that  is  inculcated  at  the 
colleges."  The  first  dental  society  in  America,  and  I  may 
say  in  the  vv^orld,  was  organized  in  New  York  City  in  1840, 
as  a  national  association,  under  the  name  of  the  American 
Society  of  Dental  Surgeons.  I  am  happy  to  be  able  to  say 
that  quite  a  number  of  the  members  of  that  old  distin- 
guished pioneer  society  became  members  of  this  Academy 
—  a  few  of  them  still  survive  —  one  of  these  seniors  we 
rejoice  to  see  present  here  today  —  a  gentleman  full  of 
years  and  of  honors,  and  one  who  took  an  active  part  in  the 
formation  of  this  Academy,  and  who  has  ever  since  favored 
us  with  his  presence  and  words  of  good-cheer  and  encour- 
agement at  all  of  our  annual  meetings,  and  at  most  of  our 
monthly  meetings.  I  refer  to  one  whom  you  all  delight  to 
honor,  Dr.  E.  G.  Tucker,  of  this  city. 

When  I  began  the  study  of  dentistry  thirty-three 
years  ago,  there  was  not  a  dental  society  in  the  New  Eng- 
land States,  and  but  six  in  the  whole  United  States.  There 
were  but  two  dental  colleges  actually  in  operation.  Two 
others  procured  charters  during  that  year.  There  are  now 
twenty  colleges  and  more  than  one  hundred  State  and  local 
societies  and  two  national  associations  in  our  country  alone, 
besides  several  valuable  dental  journals,  issued  monthly, 
and  many  standard  text-books  and  scientific  works  upon 
the  different  branches  of  our  art,  published  by  able  authors. 
Showing  what  remarkable  progress  has  been  made  within 
the  compass  of  half  an  ordinary  life-time. 


lO 


To  New  Hampshire  belongs  the  honor  of  starting  the 
first  society  of  dentists  in  New  England,  which  was  organ- 
ized at  Concord  in  1853,  under  the  name  of  the  New 
Hampshire  Dental  Society.  In  the  fall  of  1854  the  Ver- 
mont Society  of  Dental  Surgeons  was  organized  at  Mont- 
pelier.  Ten  years  later,  Boston  awoke  out  of  its  long 
sleep,  and  started  the  Massachusetts  Dental  Society,  in 
1864,  and  elected  for  its  first  president  an  old  and  eminent 
practitioner  of  this  city,  the  late  Dr.  N.  C.  Keep,  who  con- 
tinued his  interest  in  that  society  up  to  the  time  of  his 
decease.  The  Massachusetts  Dental  Society  has  done  a 
good  work  for  the  profession  and  the  community.  It  has 
passed  through  some  vicissitudes,  but  it  still  lives. 

During  the  past  ten  or  twelve  years  two  or  three  other 
societies  have  been  formed,  so  that  Boston  is  now  well 
supplied.  It  seems  to  me  that  instead  of  dividing  the 
forces  so  much,  the  wisest  course  for  one  of  the  younger 
societies  to  pursue  would  be  to  unite  with  the  American 
Academy  of  Dental  Science  by  a  transfer  of  membership, 
and  consolidate  their  forces  and  interests  with  ours.  By 
adopting  this  plan,  all  would  be  mutually  benefited  ;  new 
life  and  new  strength  would  be  infused  into  this  Society, 
and  it  will  move  onward,  strong  and  progressive,  towards  a 
brilliant  future. 

As  the  reputation  of  a  person  is  determined  by  his 
acts,  so  the  reputation  of  a  profession  or  a  society  is  deter- 
mined or  established  by  its  acts,  and  by  the  abilities  and 
activities  of  its  members.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  ability 
here,  among  our  members,  and  all  we  need  is  a  little  more 
earnestness  and  activity  in  the  work  of  the  society.  ,  It  has 
been  said  that  a  man  or  a  woman  can  become  lazy  mentally 
as  well  as  physically.  We  should  each  do  something  to 
leave  its  imprint,  either  by  excelling  in  what  has  been  done, 
or  by  taking  some  advanced  step.  Devotion  to  our  profes- 
sion is  the  secret  of  success.      Nothing  great  was  ever 


II 


achieved  without  enthusiasm.  We  should  cultivate  self- 
reliance,  and  have  a  strong  and  high  appreciation  of  faith 
as  to  our  own  God-given  powers,  which  will  enable  us  to 
work  as  others  work,  learn  as  others  learn,  and  succeed  as 
the  best.     The  poet  spoke  most  truly  when  he  said  : 

"  Our  doubts  are  traitors, 
And  make  us  lose  the  gf)od  we  oft  might  win, 
By  fearing  to  attempt." 

Our  meetings  afford  an  excellent  opportunity  for  active 
work,  and  every  member  should  regard  it  as  a  duty  to  pre- 
sent his  views  upon  the  various  subjects  that  may  come  up 
for  discussion.  Differences  of  opinion  may  exist,  but  their 
free  expression,  coupled  with  a  kindness  of  consideration 
for  those  who  differ,  will  advance  instead  of  retarding  the 
interests  of  science.  All  the  professions  and  many  of  the 
principal  occupations  of  the  present  day,  have  their  associa- 
tions for  mutual  improvement  and  benefit,  and  it  well 
becomes  our  specialty  to  be  not  less  active.  And  let  us 
bear  in  mind  that  the  members  of  the  dental  societies,  act- 
ing in  cooperation  with  the  faculties  of  our  dental  colleges, 
are  together,  the  educators  of  the  future  profession. 

In  the  spirit  of  inquiry  and  investigation  which  pre- 
vails, it  is  gratifying  to  observe  that  enthusiasm  is  not 
permitted  to  run  away  with  judgment  in  any  particular 
branch,  so  that  the  members  of  these  societies  are  for  the 
most  part  adopting  a  more  conservative  mode  of  practice 
than  that  which  prevailed  fourteen  or  fifteen  years  ago, 
when  hard  gold  and  mallet  filling  were  talked  up  so  loudly 
as  the  only  practical  methods.  We  thoroughly  test  the 
alleged  modern  improvements,  many  of  which  are  truly 
valuable,  and  many  are  worthless,  and  we  adopt  those  only 
that  prove  to  be  useful  and  practical,  and  save  time  and 
labor,  while  the  rest  we  discard  for  a  return  to  some  of  the 
methods  the  old  fathers  taught  us,  which  proved  so  emi- 


12 


nently  satisfactory  during  their  long  and  successful  experi- 
ence in  preserving  the  natural  teeth. 

Dental  societies  now  exist  in  every  State  of  our 
Union,  and  several  have  been  organized  in  Europe. 

"  Thus  the  dental  graduates  of  the  colleges  and  the 
universities  are  getting  into  one  vast  associated  fraternity, 
and  establishing  an  efficient  professional  organization,  with 
its  policy  adjusted  in  every  direction  to  the  cultivation  of 
the  science,  and  to  the  regulation  of  the  conduct  of  the 
profession ;  thus  forming  a  standard  professional  senti- 
ment, and  through  its  agency,  raising  public  opinion  into  a 
supporting  conformity." 

As  one  of  the  senior  members  it  may  not  be  assuming 
too  much  for  me  to  suggest  that  the  Academy  be  not  too 
exclusive  in  the  admission  of  new  members.  Our  mem- 
bership has  increased  very  slowly  during  the  past  few 
years.  This  can  be  attributed  mainly  to  a  great  lack  of 
effort  on  the  part  of  our  members,  myself  included,  to 
interest  others  and  induce  them  to  join  the  Academy.  It 
is  well  to  be  cautious  and  choice  in  our  associations  with 
other  practitioners,  but  not  fastidious.  During  this  coming 
year,  let  each  one  of  us  make  a  stronger  effort  to  bring  in 
some  new  members,  and  especially  from  among  those  who 
have  recently  graduated  and  are  yet  young  in  experience 
and  practice,  for  to  the  young  men  we  must  look  for  the 
future  progress  and  development  of  our  profession,  and  the 
continuation  and  success  of  this  Academy.  In  this  way 
we  shall  render  our  meetings  more  interesting,  and  enlarge 
and  improve  our  opportunities  for  doing  good  unto  others. 

There  have  been  from  time  to  time  during  past  years, 
some  practitioners,  not  many,  who  seem  to  chafe  under  the 
custom  which  prevails  of  being  termed  dentists,  and  a  few 
have  even  advocated  the  dropping  of  the  word  dentist  from 
our  nomenclature,  and  substituting  some  other  name. 
Various  names  have  been  suggested  to  take  its  place.     In 


13 

the  earlier  years  the  phrases  surgeon  dentist,  surgical  and 
mechanical  dentist,  were  sometimes  used  —  in  later  years 
operative  and  mechanical  dentist,  and  the  words  dentician, 
dentificier,  dentologist,  oral  surgeon,  oralist  and  orist,  have 
been  suggested  and  by  some  used.  Now  the  question  is 
which  one  shall  the  profession  adopt,  and  have  registered 
in  the  new  dictionary  of  the  future. 

As  the  word  dentist  came  so  honestly  from  the  Latin 
word  dens — a  tooth,  and  is  so  universally  used  at  the 
present  day,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  only  course  to  pursue 
is  to  continue  the  term  dentist,  and  let  the  profession 
through  its  proper  representatives,  communicate  with  lexi- 
cographers, and  prevail  upon  them  to  give  in  their  future 
editions  of  dictionaries  a  more  extended  and  comprehen- 
sive dejijiitiojt  of  the  word  than  they  have  in  the  past. 

The  definition  given  in  Harris's  Dictionary  of  Dental 
Science  is  good,  viz.  :  "  One  who  devotes  himself  to  the 
study  and  treatment  of  diseases  of  the  teeth  and  their 
connections,  and  which  at  the  same  time  embraces  the 
prosthesis,  or  replacement  of  the  loss  of  these  organs, 
with  artificial  substitutes."  In  speaking  upon  this  topic. 
Dr.  Austen  said,  "  We  do  not  say  surgical  aurist  or  ocular 
surgeon,  for  the  aurist  and  the  oculist  treat  the  medical  as 
well  as  surgical  diseases  of  their  respective  organs  ;  there- 
fore to  him  who  must  bring  medical,  surgical,  and  mechani- 
cal skill  into  such  constant  and  harmonious  exercise  as  our 
profession,  our  specialty,  requires,  that  term  is  most 
appropriate  which  will  at  once  express  all  its  duties.  This 
you  will  find  in  the  comprehensive  name  Dentist.  I  would 
then  advocate  the  discarding  of  all  phrases  of  partial  sig- 
nificance, and  let  this  be  the  name  which  it  shall  be  our 
delight  to  honor.  Let  us  puf  away  from  us  any  insinua- 
tion of  inferiority  which  would  be  implied  by  prefixing  to 
it  or  substituting  for  it  any  other  term,  and  acknowledge 


14 

the  right  of  none  to  its  adoption,  who  are  not  qualified  in 
all  that  it  comprehends." 

I  appreciate  the  high  motives  of  those  gentlemen  who 
advocate  the  terms  oral  surgeon  and  oral  science  in  the 
place  of  dentist  and  dental  science.  They  do  so  because 
so  many  of  the  followers  of  our  art  have  degraded  the 
profession,  and  brought  a  reproach  upon  the  name  of  den- 
tist by  their  ignorance  and  malpractice,  which  has  caused 
many  men  of  science  and  education  in  other  professions  to 
place  a  low  estimate  upon  dental  practitioners  generally  — 
but  the  community  is  becoming  more  enlightened,  and  is 
beginning  to  discern  between  the  educated  and  the  unedu- 
cated dentist,  and  to  discriminate  between  the  true  and 
false,  the  scientific  and  the  pretender. 

If  we  drop  out  the  term  dentist,  then  we  shall  be 
obliged  to  drop  all  words  of  a  kindred  nature  which  have 
the  same  derivation,  viz.  :  dentistry,  dental  surgery,  dental 
medicine,  dentition,  dentation,  denticulate,  dentiform,  den- 
toid,  denture,  and  some  others,  necessitating  a  complete 
change  in  our  dental  vocabulary.  I  trust  those  gentlemen 
who  proposed  this  change,  and  who  continue  to  advocate 
it,  will  yet  be  convinced  of  its  utter  impracticability.  Like 
the  dental  profession,  the  ranks  of  the  medical  profession 
are  infested  with  charlatans,  but  we  never  hear  of  their 
advocating  the  discontinuance  of  the  term  physician  be- 
cause of  its  free  use  by  the  class  mentioned.  Let  us  then 
retain  our  title  of  dentists,  and  each  one  strive  to  elevate 
it,  and  we  need  not  fear  that  the  name  will  degrade  us. 
Our  profession  is  rapidly  redeeming  the  past,  and  proving 
her  right  to  a  high  seat  among  the  sciences,  which  she 
claims.  Men  whose  talent  and  education  would  adorn  any 
calling,  she  now  numbers  by  hundreds,  and  I  might  say 
thousands. 

A  few  words  in  regard  to  maintaining  the  dental  labor- 
atory.    There  are  some,   not  many,   who  are  inclined  to 


15 

exclude  from  the  list  of  essential  duties  such  as  are  in  any 
wise  mechanical.  They  seem  to  view  the  laboratory  work, 
the  making  of  artificial  teeth  and  plates,  as  too  mechanical, 
and  therefore  somewhat  degrading.  Now  if  the  exercise 
of  mechanical  skill  is  degrading,  then  our  whole  art  must 
be  so,  for  nearly  all  of  our  operations  depend  for  success 
upon  this  same  species  of  skill.  Is  it  a  higher  order  of 
work  to  extract  a  tooth  than  to  replace  one .-'  I  admit  that 
handling  gold-foil  and  saving  the  natural  teeth  may  be 
an  operation  of  more  importance  to  our  patients  in  the 
aggregate  than  making  and  fitting  artificial  teeth,  which 
restore  to  the  denuded  arch  beauty  and  usefulness — but 
are  they  not  both  honorable  operations,  often  requiring  the 
highest  skill  and  ingenuity .''  Newton  made  the  telescope, 
Fahrenheit  the  thermometer,  Angelo  the  statue,  Raphael 
the  landscape.  "  When  the  brush  of  the  painter  or  the 
chisel  of  the  sculptor  shall  be  thought  to  tarnish  the  genius 
that  hides  them  ;  then,  but  only  then,  may  we  look  down 
on  the  tools  wherewith  we  must  work  out  the  high  and 
useful  purposes  of  our  art."  Because  the  laboratory  work 
has  not  of  late  years  kept  pace  with  the  improvements  in 
operative  dentistry,  but  has  been  degraded  down  by  poor 
work  and  cheap  prices,  and  is  to  a  great  extent  in  the  hands 
of  the  unscrupulous  and  unskilful,  we  should  not  forsake 
this  department  of  our  art,  but  take  a  strongei^  hold  of  it, 
rescue  it,  and  raise  it  up  again  to  the  respectable  place  it 
once  occupied. 

Let  us  then  maintain  our  laboratories  as  indispensable 
adjuncts  to  our  operating  rooms,  and  teach  our  students 
the  use  of  tools  as  well  as  instruments,  and  how  to  use  the 
dentists'  lathe  as  well  as  the  dental  engine,  how  to  restore 
the  human  face  divine  as  well  as  how  to  preserve  the 
natural  teeth.  Let  the  office  and  laboratory  go  on  kindly 
together,  with  no  idea  of  a  separation,  or  a  divorce,  as  some 
have  advocated. 


i6 


Time  will  not  permit,  neither  would  it  be  advisable  in 
an  address  upon  an  occasion  like  this,  to  enter  into  any 
special  discussion  of  the  effects  of  food  and  drink  upon  the 
teeth  ;  but  I  would  like  to  call  your  attention  to  an  able 
paper  upon  "Man  and  his  Teeth,"  written  by  Dr.  E.  W. 
Foster,  of  this  Academy,  and  published  in  the  Dental 
Cosmos,  Volume  i8,  wherein  he  speaks  of  the  influence  the 
water  we  drink  has  upon  the  teeth.  And  I  would  here  say 
that  my  experience  and  observation  during  my  long  prac- 
tice as  a  dentist,  enables  me  to  fully  coincide  with  the  views 
of  Dr.  Foster  on  this  subject.  It  is  necessary  that  the 
whole  paper  should  be  read  in  order  to  get  at  an  intelligent 
understanding,  or  a  fair  estimate  of  the  points  he  has  there 
so  well  presented  and  proved.  I  can  give  here  only  a  short 
extract  from  the  paper.     He  says  : 

"  Water  has  an  almost  inestimable  influence  on  the 
teeth  as  well  as  upon  the  rest  of  the  body.  In  fact,  we 
have  data  to  prove  that  children  having  plenty  of  water 
called  '  hard  water  '  —  that  water  holding  in  solution  a 
greater  proportion  of  nutritive  salts  than  the  so-called 
'  soft  water,'  will  have  good  teeth  almost  invariably ;  while 
our  modern  systems  of  water-works  of  lake  and  river 
water  evaporated  in  reservoirs,  and  holding  much  organic 
matter  in  solution,  and  also  the  system  which  prevails  to  a 
large  and  increasing  extent  in  many  of  our  interior  towns, 
of  building  tanks  or  cisterns  in  cellars  to  catch  rain-water 
for  drinking  purposes,  and  in  each  case  being  '  soft  water,' 
will  have,  as  in  the  nature  of  the  article  supplied,  sooner  or 
later,  a  pernicious  influence  on  the  teeth  of  those  compelled 
to  use  it  for  food  and  drink. 

"  The  Old  Oaken  Bucket  is  not  alone  a  sentimental 
myth,  but  a  practical  reality.  And  the  old  well-sweep  of 
our  boyhood,  or  the  clear  hard  water  spring  from  the  hill- 
side that  gave  its  priceless  supply  to  the  bony  and  dental 
systems  of  its  partakers  ;  that  water  so  healthful  and  relish- 


17 

ing,  that  has  inspired  so  much  genuine  poetry  and  reflec- 
tion, and  that  has  such  life-giving  power  and  so  beautifully 
reminds  us  of  that  '  well  of  water  which  springeth  up  into 
everlasting  life,'  is  personally  and  intimately  practical  to 
us  all. 

"  In  a  word,  I  would  say  '  hard  water '  for  culinary  and 
drinking  purposes,  and  '  soft  water '  for  washing  and  other 
uses.  Water  is  Nature's  universal  food.  It  forms  a  large 
bulk  of  all  we  eat  and  drink,  and  is  a  large  part  of  all  we 
are  ourselves.  Here  we  see  the  most  fluid  and  health-giv- 
ing of  all  soft  foods,  furnished  by  nature  herself ;  and  I  will 
show  you  the  best  teeth  where  the  water  for  family  use  has 
been  best  for  sustaining  adult  organizations,  and  the  grow- 
ing wants  of  the  young.  And  this  water  comes  from  old, 
deep,  and  mossy  wells — wells  holding  in  their  clear  cold 
depths  the  solution  of  certain  metallic  riches  of  the  earth, 
riches  that  man  must  have,  and  that  nature  here  so  kindly 
and  sagaciously  provides.  Or,  again,  the  springs  by  the 
wayside,  into  whose  tiny  basin  a  liquor  fit  for  immortals  is 
distilled  from  rock  mountain  sides,  and  nature  says  to  man  : 
'Drink,  O  mortal  traveler;  then  pursue  thy  way  with 
strong  limb  and  purpose,  cast  a  smile  upwards  to  thy 
ancient  mother,  and  let  the  light  of  thy  face  pale  before  the 
iridescent  glow  of  thy  fair  and  beautiful  teeth.'  In  early 
childhood,  milk,  another  fluid  food  of  the  most  vital  im- 
portance, rears  and  develops  the  teeth.  Air,  light,  and 
happy  thoughts,  and  rays  of  hope  and  laughter,  and  good 
fellowship,  are  also  foods  for  the  teeth." 

And  now  lastly,  but  not  least,  I  desire,  gentlemen,  to 
call  your  attention  to  a  subject  in  which  I  have  of  late 
taken  a  deep  interest.  I  refer  to  the  new  dispensation  in 
the  healing  art,  or  I  might  say  the  ancient  practice  revived, 
of  Metaphysical  Healing  or  Christian  Science;  a  subject 
that  is  destined  as  it  shall  become  known  and  understood 
to  be  of  great  benefit  to  the  race,  and  one  that  is  to  be  of 


i8 


mighty  importance  to  our  profession  in  the  future,  in  allay- 
ing the  fears  and  pains  of  our  patients  while  undergoing 
operations  in  dentistry,  and  in  preventing  any  unfavorable 
after  effects,  and  also  in  preparing  them  for  the  operation 
by  removing  or  lessening  the  dread  which  most  persons 
feel  when  contemplating  a  visit  to  their  dentist.  The 
understanding  of  this  science  will  also  enable  us  as  dentists 
to  operate  with  greater  ease  and  less  personal  fatigue, 
which  is  an  important  consideration  to  us  in  the  laborious 
and  wearisome  vocation  of  the  dental  practitioner,  often  so 
exhausting  to  the  nervous  system.  You  are  doubtless 
aware  that  this  subject  is  attracting  much  attention  in  this 
community,  and  in  other  portions  of  our  country  at  the 
present  time,  and  also  in  England,  where  it  is  causing  a 
very  spirited  and  even  acrimonious  discussion.  It  is  a 
noteworthy  fact  that  two  societies  have  been  recently 
organized  to  investigate,  in  general  terms,  the  influence  of 
Mind  in  Nature —  one  called  the  English  Society  of  Psy- 
chical Research,  and  the  other  the  American  Society  of 
Psychical  Research.  These  societies  embrace  within  their 
membership  many  eminent  names  in  scientific  and  philo- 
sophical circles  in  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States. 
In  the  Dental  Cosjhos  I  observed  a  notice  of  a  work  recently 
published,  entitled  Illustrations  of  the  Influence  of  the  Mind 
upon  the  Body  in  Health  and  Disease,  Designed  to  Eluci- 
date the  Action  of  the  Iinagitiation,  hy  Daniel  Hack  Tuke, 
M.D.,  LL.D.,  Fellow  of  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians, 
London.  In  this  volume,  containing  four  hundred  and 
eighty-two  pages,  the  author,  taking  as  his  text  the  saying 
of  John  Hunter,  "There  is  not  a  natural  action  in  the  body, 
whether  involuntary  or  voluntary,  that  may  not  be  influ- 
enced by  the  peculiar  state  of  the  mind  at  the  time,"  has 
formulated  the  generally  accepted  facts  of  physiology  and 
psychology  as  they  bear  on  the  question  of  the  influence  of 
the  mind  upon   the  body.      He  has  collected  into  one  vol- 


^9 

ume,  from  all  sources  at  his  command,  authenticated  facts 
illustrative  of  this  influence,  and  supplemented  them  by 
instances  which  have  come  under  his  own  observation. 
This  is  considered  a  superb  work,  and  should  be  in  the 
library  of  every  dental  practitioner. 

In  a  recent  discourse  upon  the  Mind  Cure,  delivered 
by  the  Rev.  Dr.  C.  A.  Bartol,  which  has  since  been  pub- 
lished in  pamphlet  form,  he  said :  "  In  using  the  terms  Meta- 
physical or  Christian  Science,  the  new  practice  disowns 
aught  magical  or  lawless  in  its  belief  or  procedure,  appeals 
to  common  sense  and  common  experience  to  attest  its 
claims,  and  plants  itself  upon  the  base  the  Bible  builds  on, 
fact  and  principle  in  human  nature ;  not  despising  but  con- 
firming God's  recorded  or  unwritten  revelation,  coming 
like  Christ,  not  to  destroy  but  to  fulfil."  What  a  beautiful 
tribute  to  this  science  from  one  of  Boston's  oldest  and 
most  learned  divines.  He  further  said:  "The  attenuation 
of  medicine  which  has  worked  so  well  may  end  in  its 
annihilation,"  and  he  "greets  the  new  departure  which 
lays  the  stress  on  mind,"  and  adds,  "let  us  not  with  cast- 
iron  prejudice  reject  whatever  agrees  not  with  our  pre- 
possessions." 

During  the  past  three  years  I  have  devoted  consider- 
able time  to  the  investigation  of  this  science.  And  it  may 
be  truly  designated  a  science,  for  it  is  founded  on  a  princi- 
ple that  can  be  demonstrated  and  proven.  The  power  of 
mind  over  the  body  is  as  yet  but  little  known  and  under- 
stood. Dr.  Arthur  T.  Buswell,  Christian  Scientist,  of  Bos- 
ton, in  a  recent  communication  to  the  press  upon  Meta- 
physical Healing  said  :  "  Probably  no  subject  of  reform  has 
received  so  much  able  thought  in  both  the  old  and  new 
world,  as  the  relation  of  science  to  religion  ;  but  hitherto 
the  sanative  and  reformatory  qualities  of  Divine  Truth  and 
Love  have  been  practically  excluded  as  intelligent  remedial 
agents,  by  the  doctors  of  both  mind  and  body." 


20 


There  has  been  much  written  upon  the  Science  of 
Mind  or  Soul,  and  the  Divine  Law  of  Cure,  and  on  Mental 
Healing,  Faith  Cure,  Mind  Cure,  and  Mental  Medicine, 
and  some  of  them  are  works  of  excellent  merit;  but  from 
quite  an  extended  examination  and  research  and  inquiry,  I 
find  that  the  science  and  laws  of  purely  mental  healing 
and  their  method  of  application  through  spiritual  power 
alone,  were  discovered  and  brought  out  to  this  age  by  a 
Woman  —  a  lady  of  rare  intelligence  and  refinement,  and 
of  high  Christian  character,  Mrs.  Mary  Baker  G.  Eddy, 
now  President  and  leading  Professor  of  the  Massachusetts 
Metaphysical  College,  571  Columbus  Avenue,  in  this  city. 
This  institution  was  regularly  chartered  by  the  Legislature 
of  Massachusetts  in  188 1,  under  Governor  Long's  adminis- 
tration, and  as  set  forth  in  the  annual  announcement :  "  Male 
and  female  students  are  here  taught  metaphysics  on  a 
purely  practical  basis,  to  unfold  the  resources  of  unfath- 
omed  mind,  to  impart  a  thorough  understanding  of  men- 
tal science,  to  restore  and  preserve  health,  and  to  elevate 
man  physically,  morally,  and  spiritually,  and  thus  restore 
to  the  race  hope,  health,  and  the  lost  science  of  Divine  or 
Christian  Healing." 

This  is  the  first  legally  founded  and  the  only 
thoroughly  metaphysical  college  in  the  world.  It  has  a 
powerful  ally  in  the  Christian  Scientists'  Association,  a 
large  and  influential  organization,  whose  membership  is 
made  up  of  graduates  of  the  College,  actively  engaged  in 
healing;  an  earnest  band  pledged  and  working  together  in 
a  common  cause  of  humanity  and  love.  This  Association 
is  the  only  body  of  organized  metaphysicians  in  the  world. 

The  following  account  of  the  circumstances  through 
which  Mrs.  Eddy  discovered  this  principle  of  healing  and 
the  metaphysical  science  that  governed  it,  is  taken  from 
the  Christian  Science  yournal,  a  monthly  magazine  pub- 


21 


lished  by  the  Association,  and  the  narrative  is  replete  with 
interest : 

"  Some  eighteen  years  ago  this  woman,  who  was  a 
practising  homeopathic  physician,  had  her  attention  called 
to  the  great  influence  which  the  minds  of  her  patients 
exercised  over  their  bodily  condition.  She  was  a  thought- 
ful woman,  with  an  independent  and  original  mind,  which 
could  not  be  limited  to  the  conclusions  of  other  minds. 
Following  this  line  of  investigation  thus  indicated,  experi- 
menting with  doses  of  pure  water,  when  a  favorite  remedy 
was  expected  by  the  patient,  and  gaining  exactly  the 
desired  result ;  in  other  cases  bringing  her  mind  to  bear 
on  the  disease,  and  restoring  the  patient  to  health,  unaided 
by  drugs  or  the  imagination,  she  gradually  became  con- 
vinced that  the  power  of  mind  over  matter  was  an  almost 
undiscovered  and  a  wholly  incalculable  force.  Later,  she 
received  injuries  by  an  accident  which  her  attending  phy- 
sician and  surgeon  pronounced  fatal,  and  said  she  could 
not  survive  over  three  days.  Her  limbs  were  paralyzed, 
and  her  suffering  great.  The  third  day  was  the  Sabbath  ; 
her  clergyman  visited  her  before  services,  prayed  with  her, 
and  said  farewell.  She  asked  him  to  call  after  meeting. 
He  replied  by  asking  her  if  she  knew  the  fatal  nature  of 
her  injury,  and  that  she  was  sinking,  and  might  not  survive 
through  the  day.  She  replied  that  she  knew  it  all,  but  had 
such  faith  in  God  she  thought  he  would  raise  her  up. 
After  he  left,  she  requested  to  be  left  alone ;  the  room  was 
full  of  people,  but  they  all  passed  out.  She  then  gave  her 
mind  intently  to  the  New  Testament  account  of  Jesus' 
healing  the  withered  hand  on  the  Sabbath  day.  As  she 
read,  suddenly  a  great  change  came  over  her ;  her  cold, 
immovable  limbs  became  warm  and  full  of  life,  the  internal 
agony  ceased,  her  strength  came  instantaneously,  and  she 
arose  from  her  bed  and  stood  upon  her  feet,  a  well  woman. 
The  clergyman  called  after  services,  and  she  met  him  at 


22 


the  door,  and  that  day  prepared  the  evening  meal  for  the 
family.  Both  her  clergyman  and  physician  were  astounded 
at  her  recovery.  There  are  persons  living  who  can  attest 
to  the  above  facts. 

"  She  says :  '  For  three  years  after  this,  I  sought  day 
and  night  for  the  solution  of  the  problem.  How  was  I 
cured  .-'  I  searched  the  Scriptures,  reading  nothing  else,  not 
even  a  newspaper  —  kept  aloof  from  society,  and  devoted 
all  my  time  and  energies  to  discovering  a  rule  for  that 
demonstration.  I  knew  its  principle  was  God,  and  thought 
it  was  done  according  to  primitive  Christian  Healing  by  a 
certain  action  of  mind  on  the  body,  through  a  holy,  uplifting 
faith  ;  but  I  wanted  to  find  the  science  that  governed  it, 
and  by  the  help  of  God  and  no  human  aid  I  did  find  it.'  " 

This  she  claims  to  have  discovered  and  to  have  demon- 
strated by  the  healing  of  hundreds  of  people,  many  of 
whom  have  been  pronounced  incurable  by  the  best  phy- 
sicians. 

Mrs.  Eddy  has  labored  with  tongue  and  pen  to  found 
this  system,  and  for  the  last  sixteen  years  has  taught  this 
theory  to  others  in  so  far  as  their  minds  were  capable  of 
receiving.  She  has  printed  and  published  two  volumes, 
entitled  Science  and  Health,  with  a  Key  to  the  Scriptures  — 
in  which  the  principle  underlying  this  science  is  explained. 
This  is  the  most  remarkable  book  on  Health  and  Mental 
Healing  that  has  ever  been  placed  before  the  public.  It  is 
having  a  great  sale,  and  has  already  reached  the  twelfth 
edition.  The  author  claims  that  the  methods  of  healing 
which  she  has  introduced  to  this  age,  are  those  of  Christ 
and  his  Apostles.  Jesus  commanded  his  disciples  to  "  Go 
into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  and  heal  the  sick." 
This  divine  command  is  just  as  binding  upon  Christ's  min- 
isters and  disciples  of  today  as  it  was  in  the  days  of  the 
Apostles.     He  also  told  them  :  "  He  that  believeth  on  me. 


23 

the  works  that  I  do  shall  he  do  also ;  and  greater  works 
than  these  shall  he  do,  because  I  go  unto  my  Father." 

"  And  these  sigjis  shall  follow  them  that  believe  ;  in 
my  name  shall  they  cast  out  devils  ;  they  shall  speak  with 
new  tongues  ; 

"  They  shall  take  up  serpents  ;  and  if  they  drink  any 
deadly  thing  it  shall  not  hurt  them  ;  they  shall  lay  hands 
on  the  sick,  and  they  shall  recover." 

Mrs.  Eddy  says  the  principle  of  Mental  Healing  is 
Divine  and  Eternal ;  but  the  application  of  it  to  heal  the 
sick  had  been  lost  sight  of,  and  required  to  be  again  spirit- 
ually discerned  and  its  science  discovered,  that  men  might 
retain  it  through  the  understanding.  She  begins  her  book 
on  Science  and  Health  as  follows :  "  At  the  Oxford  Uni- 
versity, England,  a  prize  of  one  hundred  pounds  has  been 
offered  for  the  best  essay  on  Natural  Science  that  refutes 
the  tendency  to  attribute  physical  effects  to  physical  causes 
rather  than  a  final  spiritual  cause. 

"  A  demand  for  metaphysics  expresses  the  wants  of 
the  race.  It  is  the  one  question  to  be  considered,  for  it 
relates  more  intimately  than  all  others  to  the  progress  of 
mankind.  The  age  seems  ready  to  verge  upon  this  subject, 
to  think  briefly  on  the  supremacy  of  spirit,  and  to  touch  the 
hem  of  its  garment  and  be  made  whole.  The  utter  control 
of  mind  over  body  is  no  longer  a  question  with  us  ;  we  have 
gained  its  proof  by  demonstration,  and  have  reduced  our 
discoveries  to  a  system,  stated  the  principle  upon  which  it 
is  based,  and  the  rules  for  applying  metaphysics  to  the 
treatment  of  disease. 

"  After  a  careful  examination  of  the  discovery  in  met- 
aphysics that  mind  governs  the  body  not  in  part  but  wholly, 
we  submitted  our  metaphysical  system  of  treating  disease 
to  the  broadest  practical  proof.  Our  theory  has  gradually 
gained  ground,  and  established  its  own  proof  whenever  it 
has  been  employed  honestly  and  under  circumstances  that 


24 

permitted  its  demorrstration,  as  the  most  effectual  curative 
agent  in  medical  practice. 

"  As  time  is  working  wonders  in  the  world  we  call 
material,  the  swift  pinions  of  thought  are  soaring  to  the 
realm  of  the  real,  the  first  cause  of  all  things.  A  material 
basis  whence  to  deduce  all  that  is  deemed  rational  is  yield- 
ing slowly  to  a  metaphysical  basis  of  reasoning,  changing 
from  matter  to  mind  to  discover  cause  and  explain  effect. 
The  honored  materialistic  philosophers,  Professors  Tyndall, 
Huxley,  Agassiz,  and  others,  appear  to  challenge  to  final 
combat  physics  and  metaphysics ;  and  at  this  Utopian 
period,  like  the  shepherd-boy  with  his  sling,  woman  goes  to 
battle  with  Goliath." 

The  power  of  mortal  mind  over  its  own  body  is  great, 
its  action  to  destroy  the  body,  reversed,  will  restore  health. 
John  Hunter,  the  great  surgeon  and  anatomist,  said:  "As 
the  state  of  the  mind  is  capable  of  producing  a  disease, 
another  state  of  it  may  effect  a  cure." 

A.  Bronson  Alcott,  after  perusing  the  books,  Science 
and  Health,  wrote  the  author  as  follows  :  "  The  profound 
truths  which  you  announce,  sustained  by  facts  of  the  im- 
mortal life,  give  to  your  work  the  seal  of  inspiration  — 
reaffirm  in  modern  phrase  the  Christian  revelations.  In 
times  like  these,  so  sunk  in  sensualism,  I  hail  with  joy  your 
voice,  speaking  an  assured  word  for  God  and  immortality, 
and  my  joy  is  heightened  that  these  words  are  of  woman's 
divinings." 

Many  persons,  and  among  them  several  of  my  acquaint- 
ance, have  recovered  their  health  from  reading  these  books. 
All  science  must  be  thoroughly  taught  to  be  understood, 
and  understood  to  be  demonstrated  —  so  you  may  not  at 
first  accept  all  the  statements  and  conclusions  found  in 
these  volumes,  and  you  cannot  fully  understand  them  with- 
out further  explanations  and  personal  instructions  from  the 
author,  who  is  eminently  qualified  as  a  teacher,  and  pos- 


25 

sesses  a  remarkable  faculty  of  imparting  her  knowledge  to 
her  students.  I  believe  she  has  been  selected  for  this  high 
mission,  as  the  one  from  among  all  the  millions,  because  of 
her  peculiar  fitness  for  this  grand  work  of  leading  the  way, 
and  introducing  this  great  subject  to  this  age  and  to  the 
world.  Hundreds  of  hopeless  invalids  are  constantly  being 
restored  to  health  by  her  methods,  and  many  dissipated, 
degraded  men  and  women  are  being  brought  to  lives  of 
sobriety  and  virtue.  For  this  science  not  only  heals  the 
sick  but  reforms  the  sinner  at  the  same  time;  so  we  can 
but  give  praise  and  God-speed  to  this  noble  work  which  as 
it  shall  become  known  and  understood  must  prove  of  untold 
benefit  to  this  and  future  generations. 

Since  the  opening  of  the  college  mentioned,  and  dur- 
ing the  previous  years  that  Mrs.  Eddy  has  been  engaged  in 
teaching  this  science,  nearly  one  thousand  students  have 
availed  themselves  of  her  system  of  instruction.  Some  of 
them  have  studied  merely  for  the  benefit  of  their  own 
health  and  that  of  their  families,  but  most  of  them  are  now 
engaged  in  practising  this  new  art  of  healing  as  a  profession, 
in  this  and  in  other  portions  of  our  country.  They  prac- 
tice under  the  title  of  C.  S.,  Christian  Scientist,  and  they 
employ  neither  drugs,  magnetism,  manipulation,  nor  will- 
power, and  are  strongly  opposed  to  the  notions  of  modern 
Spiritualists,  and  are  unbelievers  in  clairvoyance.  Their 
fundamental  ideas  are  that  all  substance  is  spirit,  and 
Spirit  is  God,  that  man  is  God's  idea,  and  hence  he  is  im- 
mortal —  that  good  is  eternal,  evil  an  unreality,  and  the  pun- 
ishment for  sin  is  limited  and  remedial.  Spirit  is  God,  and 
God  created  man  in  his  own  image  and  likeness ;  hence, 
man  is  spiritual  and  not  material.  God  did  not  create  sin, 
sickness,  or  death.  Whatever  is  of  God's  creation  is  good 
—  God  is  *Life,  Truth,  Love,  and  Harmony.  The  unreality 
of  evil,  whether  sin,  sickness,  sorrow,  or  death,  is  one  of 
their  strong  points  in  healing  the  sick.     They  take  the 


26 


opposite  thought  to  what  their  patients  believe  through 
their  personal  senses.  They  treat  error  with  Truth,  discord 
with  Harmony.  Good  is  the  opposite  to  evil  —  Good  is 
the  real,  evil  the  unreal.  Health  is  the  opposite  to  sickness 
—  Health  is  the  real,  sickness  is  the  unreal.  Life  is  the 
opposite  to  death,  Harmony  is  the  opposite  to  discord  — 
Sorrow  is  not  the  master  of  joy  —  Joy  is  the  real,  and  is 
the  stronger  power,  and  must  overcome  sorrow.  Fear  is 
not  the  master  of  Courage — Courage  is  the  stronger 
power  and  must  conquer  fear.  It  is  the  fear  of  sickness 
or  disease,  either  in  the  conscious  or  unconscious  thought, 
that  brings  it  out  through  the  mortal  mind  upon  the  body. 

Dr.  Bartol,  in  the  discourse  before  alluded  to,  quotes 
thus  :  "  The  matter  with  you,  said  one  of  the  Mind  Curers 
to  her  patients,  is  vipers :  envy,  malice,  jealousy,  suspicion, 
corroding  cares,  over  which  you  are  brooding  in  sadness. 
Is  it  not  as  fine  a  miracle  to  cast  out  these  as  to  expel 
unclean  spirits  in  the  country  of  the  Gadarenes .''  Was 
Christ's  prediction  false  of  the  greater  works  His  disciples 
should  do } "  All  the  drugs  in  the  pharmacopoeia  could 
not  help  these  cases,  but  through  mental  treatment  many 
such  have  been  cured,  and  thousands  upon  thousands  more 
will  be  in  the  future.  The  question  has  been  asked  in  the 
past,  who  can  minister  to  minds  diseased .''  I  answer,  the 
Christian  Scientists.  They  displace  images  of  terror  with 
pictures  of  hope,  and  their  patients  are  healed.  What  a  glo- 
rious mission  is  theirs  to  alleviate  and  prevent  human  suffer- 
ing !  I  have  received  a  course  of  instruction  at  the  institution 
spoken  of,  and  frequently  attend  the  meetings  and  lectures 
of  the  Scientists,  and  my  interest  in  the  subject  increases. 
I  have  made  some  progress  in  the  demonstration  of  this 
great  principle  in  my  dental  practice,  and  shall  be  able  to 
accomplish  much  more  in  the  future  as  I  acquire  a  higher 
understanding  of  its  power.  And  I  would  recommend  my 
fellow-members   in    this    Academy   to   obtain    the    books, 


27 

Science  and  Health,  and  study  and  examine  into  this  Truth, 
and  also  avail  themselves  of  a  course  of  instruction  at  the 
Massachusetts  Metaphysical  College. 

It  is  very  easy  and  natural  for  a  person  to  feel  preju- 
diced against  what  they  do  not  understand,  but  by  giving 
your  attention  to  the  study  and  investigation  of  this  sub- 
ject, you  may  discover,  as  I  have,  pearls  of  great  price. 
This  science  will  of  course  meet  with  much  opposition,  as 
all  great  reforms  always  have  in  the  past.  But  its  destiny 
is  onward.  This  is  an  age  of  progress  and  free  thought. 
A  new  era  of  light  is  just  dawning  on  the  land.  Cure  by 
the  administration  of  mixtures  and  boluses  is  so  long  an 
established  custom  and  tradition,  that  it  is  only  very  slowly 
that  the  world  will  give  it  up.  The  custom  so  prevalent 
of  pouring  out  so  much  sympathy  over  those  afflicted  with 
illness,  is  debilitating  in  effect,  and  retards  their  recovery. 

Metaphysical  Science  instead  of  coddling  and  encourag- 
ing sickness,  meets  it  with  an  infusion  of  vigor  and  energy, 
and  the  patient  is  inspired  with  a  determination  to  get  well. 
It  is  proverbial  that  persons  who  read  medical  works  much 
are  always  ailing.  The  numberless  patent  nostrums  that 
are  so  extensively  advertised,  and  the  descriptions  of  dis- 
eases by  quacks  and  clairvoyants,  are  a  very  prolific  modern 
source  of  sickness ;  and  the  public  exhibition  of  monstrosi- 
ties and  disgusting  morbid  specimens  in  museums  of  anat- 
omy, should  be  prohibited  by  law.  The  thoughts  should 
dwell  on  the  good  and  the  beautiful ;  on  objects  of  health 
and  harmony,  instead  of  disease  and  deformity.  As  if  not 
satisfied  with  the  ghastly  array  of  diseases  already  recorded 
by  the  medical  fraternity,  they  are  continually  discover- 
ing new  diseases,  and  announcing  new  names  for  them 
through  the  daily  press,  books,  and  journals ;  and  new 
drugs  and  specifics  are  brought  out  almost  daily,  and 
heralded  throughout  the  land,  attracting  the  attention  of 
the  people,  and  picturing  to  their  minds  and  forming  in 


28 


their  thoughts  images  and  fears  of  these  diseases,  and  the 
result  is  very  many  become  afflicted  with  them  who  might 
otherwise  escape.  Let  health  be  more  contagious  than 
disease.  In  the  olden  times,  in  the  days  of  our  great 
grandfathers,  who  ever  heard  of  dyspepsia,  spino-menin- 
gitis,  hay-fever,  and  rose-fever  ? 

"  The  best  receipt  for  health,  say  what  they  will, 
Is  never  to  suppose  we  shall  be  ill  ; 
Most  of  the  evils  we  poor  mortals  know, 
From  doctors  and  imagination  flow." 

You  have  known  me  through  many  years,  especially  the 
senior  members,  as  a  very  conservative  man  in  religion, 
politics,  and  dental  practice,  and  one  not  easily  led  into  side 
issues,  and  when  I  began  the  study  of  this  science,  I  felt 
doubtful  whether  the  claims  made  for  it  could  be  fully 
demonstrated  and  sustained ;  but  as  I  have  watched  very 
closely  the  progress  of  the  Christian  Scientists  during  the 
past  three  years,  and  have  felt  personally  the  power  of  this 
Truth  in  the  great  benefits  I  have  received  in  my  own 
health,  both  mentally  and  physically,  and  have  noticed  from 
time  to  time  the  large  number  of  people  that  have  been 
permanently  healed  of  their  diseases,  and  restored  to  health 
and  happiness  through  the  beneficent  efforts  of  these  men- 
tal physicians,  and  have  known  of  some  remarkable  cures 
among  my  own  personal  friends  and  acquaintances,  I  can 
but  feel  fully  convinced  of  the  genuine  worth  and  power  of 
this  method  of  healing. 

I  have  made  a  few  notes  from  time  to  time  of  some  of 
my  demonstrations  upon  my  own  patients  in  dentistry,  and 
at  a  future  meeting  of  the  Academy,  I  will  present  a  paper 
giving  you  the  results  of  my  experience.  I  will  merely 
say  to  you  now,  that  my  efforts  thus  far  have  been 
rewarded  with  a  sufficient  degree  of  success  to  enable  me 
to  state  that  I  fully  believe  the  time  will  yet  arrive  when 
the  intelligent  application   of  metaphysical    treatments  to 


29 

our  patients  by  honorable  practitioners  educated  in  this 
science,  will  prove  to  be  of  great  practical  service  and 
benefit,  and  perhaps  more  so  than  any  other  anodyne  or 
anaesthetic  which  has  ever  been  used  or  discovered. 

The  Science  of  Mental  Healing,  as  it  becomes  known 
and  understood  and  intelligently  applied  in  daily  life,  will 
not  only  promote  physical  health,  but  will  exert  a  highly 
beneficial  influence  on  the  mind,  and  it  is  destined  to  have 
a  powerful  influence  for  good  upon  this  and  future  genera- 
tions ;  not  only  in  healing  the  people  of  their  bodily  dis- 
eases and  infirmities,  but  also  in  curing  them  of  their  men- 
tal ills,  and  bringing  about  an  improved  condition  of  health 
and  morals,  and  increasing  the  longevity  of  the  race. 
Even  those  who  are  in  good  health  would  do  well  to  study 
this  science,  and  induce  their  children  to  study  it,  so  that 
all  may  learn  how  to  contmue  in  good  health,  and  attain  to 
a  ripe  old  age. 

I  will  now  close  with  the  earnest  hope  that  this  Acad- 
emy will  continue  to  grow  and  thrive  and  bring  forth 
much  fruit,  and  that  the  younger  members,  upon  whose 
shoulders  the  carrying  on  of  the  good  work  is  now  placed, 
will  continue  their  interest,  and  put  forth  their  best  exer- 
tions for  its  future  welfare  and  progress,  that  as  the  years 
roll  on,  they  will  be  able  to  rear  a  beautiful  superstructure 
upon  the  good  foundation  that  has  been  laid. 


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